About CNS Catalyst Grants

The CNS Catalyst Grant program is a College of Natural Sciences (CNS) internal funding mechanism meant to inspire interdisciplinary research collaborations that will seed efforts to secure external funding. Proposals for interdisciplinary projects with faculty members from different UT departments or colleges, including Dell Medical School, are requested. Principal investigators who accept a CNS Catalyst Grant must commit to the pursuit of external funding for the collaborative effort within 12 to 18 months of receiving Catalyst Grant funding. The CNS Strategic Research Initiatives Office will, as needed, assist teams receiving Catalyst Grant funding with the development of their proposal to an external funding agency.

Since its inception in the spring of 2014, 45 proposals have been submitted to the CNS Catalyst Grant program over five competitions. In addition to collaborators from 15 CNS departments and ORUs, these interdisciplinary proposals have included investigators from the Cockrell School of Engineering, the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Education, the Jackson School of Geosciences, and Dell Medical School. This broad expertise has enriched a diversity of proposed research topics ranging from the impacts of language brokering on educational outcomes in Mexican-American adolescents to the development of next-generation wound dressings. Past CNS Catalyst Grant winners are provided below.

Cycle

Title

Principal Investigators

College/Department

Spring 2014

Development of Transformative Tracking and Mapping Instrumentation—for tracking, mapping and identifying camouflage and navigation strategies in dynamic, complex environments

Award Information

Up to two CNS Catalyst Grants ($50,000 maximum each) will be awarded to teams of 2 or more members to begin new interdisciplinary research collaborations. Two award cycles are being offered for Fiscal Year 2017-2018, with proposal deadlines in April and October. Teams whose CNS Catalyst Grant proposals are not selected in a given award cycle are allowed to resubmit their proposals in subsequent cycles.

Eligibility Guidelines

CNS Catalyst Grant funding is meant to catalyze new research collaborations in high-impact, emerging fields that have potential for major external funding. With this goal in mind, we expect that a successful Catalyst Grant proposal will possess the following characteristics:

Project teams should include at least two members, each with a primary UT appointment to a different academic department, who are tenure-track faculty, non-tenure-track faculty or permanent research scientists, and who have not previously received external funding as a team. The participation of individuals at the Assistant and Associate Professor ranks is particularly encouraged. Adjunct faculty, visiting researchers and postdocs are not eligible Co-PIs but may be named investigators in proposals.

Cross-college collaborations are allowed, but Catalyst Grant funds may only be used to support the CNS portion of the collaboration. If a cross-college collaboration requires funding or in-kind support for the other college, the commitment for those funds or support must be provided by the other college and be described in the proposal submission.

Project teams must provide convincing evidence that external funding exists that will be viable to pursue. A target grant mechanism must be identified at the time of proposal submission.

The timeline for submitting a Catalyst Grant application should be 12 to 18 months ahead of the team’s anticipated submission to one or more target external grant programs.

Previous Catalyst Grant winners may submit an application no sooner than two calendar years from their winning competition cycle (e.g., a winner from Fall 2015 would not be eligible to submit another application until Fall 2017).

Previously successful investigator teams are not eligible to submit a new Catalyst proposal as a team.

What Will a CNS Catalyst Grant Pay For?

CNS Catalyst Grant funding should develop promising new research areas and teams in order to enhance competitiveness of applications to external agencies.

ALLOWED Expenses:

Materials/supplies/consumables

Graduate student support including tuition; Postdoc or Research Scientist support. (Note: Salary funds may only be paid to UT-Austin employees and may not be transferred outside the University.)

Travel or conference hosting for team-building in advance of external sponsor proposal submission

Application Instructions

Create your application (UT EID and password required) and upload the items listed here at the website above to be considered for CNS Catalyst Grant funding in the next award cycle:

1. Lay Summary. In 200 words or less describe for a general audience the proposed collaboration and its potential impact.

2. Proposal. Limit to three (3) pages. Organize the proposal in the specified order using the section headings (Rationale and Vision, Justification, Participating Faculty) and the instructions provided below.

Rationale and vision. Explain the innovative and transformative nature of the proposed interdisciplinary collaboration, and provide an assessment of why the project team is particularly well-positioned to develop competitive external proposals in this research area.

Justification. Explain why a Catalyst Grant is required to initiate the collaboration, and how the grant will impact the team’s probability of success in securing external funding.

Participating Faculty. List participating faculty members providing a clear explanation of each member’s role in the collaboration. If your proposal involves faculty members from other colleges, describe the source(s) of support for those members’ portion of the collaboration

3. External Funding Landscape. Limit to one (1) page. Summarize the external funding landscape for which the seed funding proposal is being prepared and plans to pursue external funding. Include an anticipated timeline with milestones for development of an external proposal, names of potential sponsoring agencies, and relevant deadlines for those agencies.

4. Budget and budget justification. No page limit.Submit a detailed budget outlining expenditures in appropriate categories. Other resources that will be committed to the effort, such as support from academic units, should also be outlined. If your proposal involves a cross-college collaboration, specify the source of support for the other college’s participation and provide email confirmation of preliminary commitment from the appropriate college/department/center.

5.Biosketches or CVs. Submit biosketches or CVs for all members of the faculty team.

Application Review Process and Evaluation Criteria

CNS Catalyst Grant applications will be reviewed by a committee of CNS faculty with appropriate subject matter expertise. One award will be announced approximately 3 weeks after each grant cycle deadline, and funds will be disbursed approximately 4 weeks after each deadline. Evaluation criteria include:

Evaluation criteria include:

Demonstrated commitment by the faculty team to establish a new interdisciplinary collaboration

Evidence that Catalyst Grant funding will enable the faculty team to overcome identified barriers that currently prohibit a successful collaboration

What's Required of Me After I Receive a CNS Catalyst Grant?

In addition to submitting a proposal for external funding, you must submit the following information to Dan Bost in the Office of Research and Facilities 6 and 12 months after receiving the award:

A two-page progress report including (i) research outcomes and (ii) progress toward securing external funding. If progress has been hindered in one or both of these areas, a clear explanation for the delay is required.

A list of any other key outcomes of Catalyst Grant funding (e.g., manuscripts published or submitted; external collaborations formed)

Successful collaborative teams may also be asked to:

Highlight their collaborations in a College-wide forum such as a CNS Town Hall meeting or research symposium.

Provide subject matter expertise by participating on a review panel for a future Catalyst Grant competition.